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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Messy Desks, Modeling Paste, and March

March can be a tough month. As a teacher, I am convinced that there really is something to the whole "in like a lion, out like a lamb" adage. The third quarter finds its frenzied finish during this month, but by the end of March, the fourth quarter has arrived, ushering in the hope that the real end is near.

In the midst of the third quarter craziness a few weeks ago, I learned that a recent study by the University of Texas revealed that the number of post-it notes on one's desk is related to the degree to which that person feels overwhelmed. As I looked from the article to my desk, my first reaction was, "Well, yeah," and my second reaction was, "I so need to make a page about this."

To represent the "quarter mark" mayhem and to share the visible impact of the third quarter upon one's mental health and spatial sense, I created this layout, working in a bunch of items that were apparently manufactured just for a page like this.

I began by brushing some modeling paste on the background cardstock and smoothing it over with an old credit card (a used gift card would work, too).

Since I wanted to ensure that there would be some pink on the page, to complement the many (many) post-it notes in the photo, I lightly misted over the background with pink spray ink. I then stamped over the modeling ink with a JBS "Dictionary" clear stamp.

First, I stamped over the area with the text stamp, and then I stamped the dictionary image a few times over that. A heat gun sped up the drying process. To flatten the page, I placed a large book over the top.

I love the resulting texture!

Once the background was done, I added the photos and accents. In keeping with the somebody-save-me-from-my-paperwork vibe of the page, I added a bunch of punched shapes using the "File This" punch from JBS/Fiskars, punching papers from the new Modern Mercantile collection.